It’s Dangerous Outside the Dungeon, Master

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“All done.”

“Thank you…”

“Don’t mention it. Return to your seat.”

Tigress’s second daughter, despite receiving treatment for her presumably long-term injured leg, wore a regretful expression.

She must have imagined that she was selected as the leader of the group by the Queen of the Dungeon.

The moment the threatening leader disappeared, her thoughts turned to claiming the position, indicating a mindset influenced by desire.

It likely stemmed from her instincts as a monster.

“The entire bone and shell were misaligned.”

Despite her delusions, I was holding onto the memory from when I saw her leg.

The daughter of the Spider King.

Her leg, which should be referred to as a princess in human terms, was completely misaligned. It had healed strangely after being broken.

Not just one, but three out of eight legs were in that condition.

“Good thing it’s a monster’s body.”

I was able to break it cleanly and properly align the bones for treatment, and she regained the ability to move quickly, but…

“Domestic violence… monsters shouldn’t have that kind of mindset.”

“Probably… it’s common sense for monsters and demon clans to teach through violence… their bodies are too sturdy and heal well.”

“Still, that crossed the line.”

“That’s true…”

The identity of the culprit was quite obvious.

Her body was in such a state that it didn’t even look like she had fought in close combat.

Though her bones and muscles were superior to a human’s, they were inferior to her father’s or even the other soldiers and worker spiders nearby.

So, the injury was ultimately caused by something within the household.

“Even if you saved her, you must have been worried about whether to kill her.”

– Snap.

“Right. Good job.”

– Snap!

Seizing the moment, I praised Evangeline as she approached with a cute expression. I then gazed at the three Spider Humans in front of me until the queens returned to solve their matters.

As the eldest queen had ordered, all three of them were kneeling in a lowered posture.

… gulp.

The eldest son, with the most tension visible in his eyes, was already looking at me with a subtle greed that signaled he had escaped his earlier confusion.

If selecting a successor for an ordinary faction, he would be a worthy choice.

Seeing that he seemed more mentally stable than the other children, perhaps Tigress thought so too and troubled him less than the others.

“So, that’s a deduction.”

I was not looking to pick an ordinary successor.

In that regard, the second daughter, who had just broken her leg, was also a deduction.

“…”

She was bowing her head and body completely, exuding a will to follow my orders.

However, as I had seen in her eyes, she was filled with an undeniable desire.

The moment she realized she had not yet been chosen as the queen, her clarity of mind was quite remarkable.

If one has nothing firm they want to achieve, it’s usually hard to have such rational thoughts in a dysfunctional family like this.

Naturally, my gaze shifted to the third.

“Well, at least she passes the appearance test.”

She was the third overall, and likely the second daughter; she looked worse off compared to the other two.

That’s why she passed.

I intended to make a Spider Queen who would cooperate with me to control this faction.

“I’m left wondering if she’s smarter than her two older brothers and just pretending, or if she’s genuinely in that state.”

While there were doubts, if it were the former, selecting her could be a mistake, but if it were the latter, she could be a useful asset.

But all these assumptions might ultimately be meaningless.

“Thus, the contract has been established.”

What I was seeing now was merely first impressions; I intended to make contracts with all of them.

As I mentioned, contracts with monsters don’t burden the dungeon.

Then, if I encompassed all the Arachne royalty under the influence of the contract, that would work fine.

That way, gathering information would be much easier.

“Name – …”

The first ones I checked were Tigress’s three queens.

However, they were merely Arachne who barely met the conditions in the system with their abilities; there was nothing that stood out.

No, there was one thing.

“Consumption – Permanently absorbs a small amount of mana or resistance from a living being with poison, or from a corpse. There is a very low probability of generating or enhancing poison-related traits.”

This trait caught my attention.

It was an elite-level trait found in the queen with blue hair. Upon detailed examination, it was decent but had limitations.

The ability score raised would be proportional to the target’s corresponding figure, but would be in very small quantities.

If the target’s strength was greater than her own mana, she wouldn’t be able to absorb it, and if she attempted to, she’d receive a strong feedback in return—a limitation.

Still, the fact that she could absorb her own abilities infinitely and gain additional poison-related traits was quite remarkable.

“I should keep an eye on this.”

It could only be used by living summoned creatures, but it’s a good trait to have someone else absorb it besides me.

Someone might feel resentment, but still.

“What is this…?”

As I pondered this, I checked the information of the children and unexpectedly found one more thing in an unusual place.

From the second princess, who I just thought had passed.

“Strong bag – Devours a living being with poison and melts that being to gain either mana or health. There is a very low probability of acquiring poison-related traits.”

An elite trait.

Once I reviewed that explanation, it seemed slightly more restricted than “Consumption,” but carried excellent effects.

Checking her information to see if she knew she had this ability, I stumbled upon another intriguing element.

“Name – Sanme.”

Her name.

It seemed utterly out of place.

It didn’t suit the daughter of the Spider King dwelling in the Eastern Continent.

“Is your name Sanme?”

“Uh, um, how…?”

“Looks like it indeed is. How did that name come about?”

“I… I don’t really know… my father just called me that…”

“… sigh.”

The timidness that appeared to stem from the outcome of violence nearly made me frown, but I felt myself holding back by ‘nobility’ when I heard a sigh coming from behind.

Turning around, I saw the wives’ figures.

The source of that deep sigh seemed to be the Arachne with blue hair, from whom I had discovered the “Consumption” trait earlier.

Come to think of it, this child shared the same hair color.

“The queen is watching.”

“Ah, yes? Huh…! S-sorry!”

When the first wife jabbed her in the side, it seemed she only then noticed I was looking at her, covering her mouth with both hands and bowing continuously to apologize.

The responses of the other wives were calm, as if they were used to it.

While maintaining a certain degree of pride when performing the queen’s duties, it appeared this was her original demeanor.

“I do not wish to punish you. Stand up straight.”

“Thank you…!”

“One thing I’m curious about: the reason for your sigh.”

“Um…”

Despite my question, the blue-haired wife hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Speak quickly. Sister. After all, you have no loyalty to that guy.”

“Y-yeah, that’s true…?”

At that, the brown-haired wife pressed her, and only then did she politely bow and begin to speak.

And her first line was what I had anticipated.

“That child is my eldest daughter…”

“Really? And?”

Despite the agreement, she hesitated, biting her lip for a moment before quickly spilling the rest of her situation.

Though awkward, she seemed to be trying to maintain a somewhat elegant tone.

“Our husband, or rather, that guy… is uninterested in the children, simply naming them as ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’.”

“I see.”

“Turns out he was more callous than I thought.”

Upon inspection, it seemed that the other princes and princesses all had names that ended with ‘me’.

Yonme, Gome… they felt awfully familiar.

I hadn’t noticed until now because I first saw ‘Nime’ and then ‘Sanme’.

“Indeed that was the case! He took us as if there was no love, simply abducted us…!”

“Sister.”

“S-sorry…”

“It’s okay.”

This time, it was the black-haired wife who quieted the blue-haired queen as she tried to stray off-topic.

Given what I saw, she seemed to be the second among the three, so I might call her the second wife from now on.

“Sigh. Thus… I inadvertently sighed out of pity for my child, Your Majesty.”

Hearing that, the other former queens nearby also sighed or coughed, fluttering their eyes.

It seemed their long-held grievances were coming to the surface, and with the absence of any acting, the blue-haired wife’s words appeared to be the truth.

“Third”, “Sanme.”

“The language of Hua Country.”

“I’ve heard that.”

“Looks like she came from that side.”

Hua Country, Hua Country is one of the great nations in this world that has mostly inherited Japan’s culture as an island nation.

Although compared to the other great nations of the Western Continent, it’s not as large or powerful, but being an island and independently expanding trade with the Eastern Continent through the magical realm of “Gaf,” it has accumulated wealth.

Of course, it has suffered from invasions from the magical realm of Gaf, losing parts of its territory.

“May I speak? Your Majesty.”

“Go ahead.”

Stepping forward was the black-haired wife, the one I considered the eldest among the three.

She seemed to be the oldest, possessing an aura of maturity that evoked a sense of experience.

“I’ve been with him since he fled from the Western Continent to here. Thus, I know his past.”

The one stepping forward spoke with a far more elegant tone than the other wives.

She was probably the source of their “awkward yet refined speech.”

“Let’s all sit and talk. So, what about this past?”

I invited the queens and their children to sit down.

The information following her testimony felt promising, and I had a hunch it would be intriguing.

“Everyone should sit, though.”

“It’s fine; I’ll listen while standing.”

Though not everyone sat down, I didn’t pay that much attention and confirmed only the queen in front was more relaxed before sitting in my shadow chair to listen to the story.

“He was one of the relatively large youkai of Hua Country, once called Aotsuchigumo, originally leading three groups of the Hundred Ghost Parade.”

As I had suspected.

The fact that he commanded three groups of the Hundred Ghost Parade, a cluster of youkai from the Western Continent, indicated he was aiming beyond elite-level proficiency.

With that stature, he could have certainly commanded a space in the hierarchy, either with his mana domain or as part of an existing Grand Duke’s domain.

In other words, he wasn’t someone who should have been killed so easily by Eve.

Stories of strongfalls are invariably interesting.

“I see. But?”

“However, recently, in a large extermination in Hua Country, he lost my Power Orb, his army, and his nest, fleeing to the Eastern Continent with diminished strength and even losing some of his memories.”

Listening to her words, I sensed a discrepancy.

Of course, if he had lost the Power Orb, the Dungeon Core, it was understandable for him to lose strength as well. But losing memories was odd.

So, I casually expressed what I speculated based on that.

“You left behind a clone or agent, using the number of your escape route.”

Recalling that scene where Serika hurried back to her dungeon from Kopgerin’s extermination army, I spoke without hesitation.

The first wife nodded.

“Your Majesty’s wisdom is as sharp as ever. That is correct. He transferred part of his power and memories to a reliable proxy and threw her into confusion, using her as bait before escaping.”

“So that’s what happened.”

Probably, Tigress had fled to the Eastern Continent while Hua Country focused its full strength on exterminating youkai, the main headache Tokop’s magical realm posed to them.

Then later, gathering strength, he likely aimed to devour the ant monsters, concentrating his power nearby.

Understanding his origins and history naturally led me to presume his name was indeed a pseudonym.

“The name Tigress (tiger) likely stems from my striped markings.”

“That’s right. His real name was Aoru.”

“‘To weave the blue’ certainly feels quite mismatched as a name.”

I shifted my gaze to “Sanme.”

She seemed to be glancing between the former queens and me, unsure of what actions to take.

Perhaps the other wife next to her wished she would shed some tears at this moment.

Did she feel showing weakness would reduce her points with me, or was she just clueless?

“So?”

“Y-yes…?”

The first wife’s puzzled expression looked at me.

Just before the happiness and regret I felt from their prior conversations faded, I urged them on.

To show me the end of the ‘performance’ they had been acting out until now.

“You may have something to ask of me regarding the past you’d rather not speak about. Speak it.”

I waited with patience for a moment.

These spiders held no great value for me at the moment. It wouldn’t be easy for them to in the future, either.

Their traits were useful, but that’s only ‘taxing’ it for me.

The only reason I managed to gather them was because Tigress pushed my reverse plan and got killed. Hence, I held no expectations of them.

“Since the north has been stabilized forcibly, there’s no need to make them rulers again. I can just use them as my army. Whether dead or alive.”

Thus, once my interest faded, I could easily disregard their requests.

And to not give anything in exchange for such an interesting past would make me feel the effort behind those words was wasted, much like the fun I had felt earlier.

That’s why I urged them on.

Urging to grab hold of what could be captured in time. You could say it was a somewhat merciful act.

“Did you notice…?”

“Speak quickly.”

Around this time, the second and third wives, who had been observing cautiously, made their way closer, sitting beside the first wife and bowing deeply.

“Please, I beg you.”

““Do not cast out our children. We would do anything for that.””

I had anticipated this, but it was clearly their struggle.

It was an act risking their dignity and even their lives to ask me to spare their children while also trying to instill proper behavior in them, who had not yet shed their instincts as monsters.

They wouldn’t know what sort of foolishness the children raised by their bad father might get up to if left unattended. So this was an effort to prevent such a future.

And.

“Very well. I shall grant it.”

Such desperate yet wise ‘motherly love’ was enough to move my heart.

“What do you mean…?”

“I shall take you in and will not abandon you, and among you, those showing talent shall be placed in positions befitting that talent. This I shall prove through trust and actions without resorting to magical contracts. … Are you satisfied?”

“We never believed you would lie concerning those you have kept. I choose to believe that as well.”

As they suspected, as long as they or their children did not dare cross the line, I wouldn’t discard ‘what’s mine’ simply for being deemed useless.

And as the first evidence towards that request, I designated “Sanme,” saying this.

“Your name henceforth shall be ‘Fortuna’. Sanme. You shall take charge of leading this group.”

“Y-yes…?!”

“You former queens shall support her properly. Based on the results, we will decide future matters.”

““We shall follow you faithfully. Your Majesty.””

“I expect your dedication and wisdom.”

Thus, the war in this area came to an end.

It took about another two days to consolidate the entire spider faction.

Now, the only remaining issue in this region was what to do about the Ant Queen, who had been ruling here.

And that wasn’t an immediate concern now that the area had stabilized.